Pages

Monday, December 6, 2010

Roberts Roost

A quick detour from Nationals.

I survived a run with ROC (Runner's of Compassion) on Saturday. You see, I first ran with ROC a few years ago. 2008 or 2007 maybe? They took me on some trails behind Westwood Lake where I had never been. Most of ROC are pretty hard core trail runners, unlike little miss road runner here. I am a bit of a disaster on trails so I found out the first time I ran with them.

To make a long story short, my first run with them, I was struggling to keep up with the crew on the technical downhills. I came across a big tree across the trail. I stepped up, pushed off and my foot slipped. As my foot slipped, the way I pushed off spun me in the air and I landed parallel to the tree. During this spin, I couldn't get my hand down in time and proceeded to introduce my nose to the dirt trail. I ended up with pine needles and dirt up my nose, but was lucky to have minimal blood. I said some choice words and the guy in front of me stopped and came back after he heard a loud "thud." I walked it off and finished the run. I ended up with a very slight new curve in my nose and a lovely black eye (I can't find the photos at the moment, so I can't post them).

This past Saturday I decided to meet up with Westwood Running Club for my run. When I got there, I found ROC there too, so in the end we joined up and all ran together. We headed up to Roberts Roost. Let's just say part of this run was a hike as it had some steep inclines that included a rope climb at one point. It was definitely a good run and I ran well on the way up. The way down? That was a different story. I am way too cautious on downhills; however, I have good reason to be. Plus I don't want to wreck my upcoming season by trying to be a daredevil to keep up with the pack. I was definitely happy to finish the run without any incidents! I stole a couple of photos from sites online to show the view from the top of our run. It was beautiful as it looked over Nanaimo.

No idea who that guy is!

This one shows the Westwood Ridges, which means Westwood Lake is behind them. Robert's Roost goes higher than the ridges.

This one shows Mt Benson summit on the left and Roberts Roost on the right.

Oh did I mention that on the way down, we entered the Department of National Defense? Yeah, generally you aren't supposed to go through that area and of course was we got there, we found a few members out there. A quick apology and quicker footsteps and we went off on our way!